Many people with intellectual disabilities have a disturbed attachment development. Some have been diagnosed with an attachment disorder. They usually have many stress and emotion regulation problems in daily life. Within the care for people with intellectual disabilities, various interventions are aimed at making the stress manageable. Think of a predictable daily rhythm, a safe living environment, reliable guidance style, etc. Sometimes this is insufficient. In those cases, Integrative Therapy for Attachment and Behaviour (ITGG) can help by building an attachment relationship between client and therapist and working on behavioural modification. In this context, the client learns, with support from the attachment relationship, to handle stress. After this behaviour modification, much attention is paid within the therapy to generalisation to daily supervision.
H.C. (Henri) Koelewijn works as a NVO Orthopedagoog-Generalist at Amerpoort. There, he is connected to the expertise line EVB+ and works at various residential and work locations as a behavioural expert for children and young adults with a mental disability with challenging behaviour. Henri also gives Integrative Therapy for Attachment and Behaviour to adolescents and adults with an attachment disorder.